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The XX/XY sex-determination system is one of the most familiar sex-determination systems and is found in human beings and most other mammals, although at least one monotreme, the platypus, presents a particular sex determination scheme that in some ways resembles that of the ZW sex chromosomes of birds, and it also lacks the SRY gene. Several Arvicolinae (voles and lemmings) and some other rodents are also noted for their unusual sex determination systems.

In the XY sex-determination system, females have two of the same kind of sexchromosome (XX), while males have two distinct sex chromosomes (XY). Some species (including humans) have a gene SRY on the Y chromosome that determines maleness; others (such as the fruit fly) use the presence of two X chromosomes to determine femaleness. The XY sex chromosomes are different in shape and size from each other unlike the autosomes, and are termed allosomes.

In this variant of the XY system, females have two copies of the sex chromosome (XX) but males have only one (X0). The 0 denotes the absence of a second sex chromosome. This system is observed in a number of insects, including the grasshoppers and crickets of order Orthoptera and in cockroaches (order Blattodea).

The nematodeC. elegans is male with one sex chromosome (X0); with a pair of chromosomes (XX) it is a hermaphrodite.
hermaphrodites have both sex chromosomes.

The ZW sex-determination system is found in birds and some insects and other organisms. The ZW sex-determination system is reversed compared to the XY system: females have two different kinds of chromosomes (ZW), and males have two of the same kind of chromosomes (ZZ).

Haplodiploidy is found in insects belonging to Hymenoptera, such as ants and bees. Unfertilized eggs develop into haploid individuals, which are the males. Diploid individuals are generally female but may be sterile males. Thus, if a queen bee mates with one drone, her daughters share ¾ of their genes with each other, not ½ as in the XY and ZW systems. This is believed to be significant for the development of eusociality, as it increases the significance of kin selection.
This is common also in wasps that are parasitic and in the male greenflies.